Chapter 8: The gentleman is easy to get along with, but the petty person is difficult to guard against.
Huang Huizi pointed out a way for Li Jing, actually it was just a very simple sentence, but this sentence revealed the current situation of Li Jing.
In Huang Hu's words, Li Jun being locked up here must have been because he offended someone. Judging from what Li Jun just said, the most likely possibility is that Wang Liang is playing tricks inside. And now although Li Jun has been sentenced to death, it doesn't necessarily mean there's no way out for him yet.
Huang Huizi told Li Jing with a playful smile, if that fat man really wanted Li Jing's life, he wouldn't need to bother with adding crimes or sentencing him to death. The sixty lashes for catching fish would be enough to kill Li Jing on the spot with just one strike up and down, and afterwards, no one would be able to say anything about it. But now, although Li Jing has taken on the crime of treason, he hasn't even received a single lash, what does this show?
Li Jiong was not a fool, and in Huang Hu Zi's smile, he immediately understood. The store officer suddenly took him, possibly because of Wang Liang's reason. But Zhang Pang had no grudges with him in the past, nor did he have any enemies recently, so it wasn't worth helping a follower like Fei Xin to take his life. All this, put simply, was still because of interests. Wang Liang harmed him for revenge, while Zhang Pang definitely wanted to calculate his wealth.
The official has two mouths, the government opens eight characters. Li Jiong entered this death row prison, it's still up to Zhang Pangzi to arrange as he pleases, in short, Zhang Pangzi spent so much effort just to extort money from Li Jiong.
"Hurry up and get someone to give that fat guy some money from your family, and this matter will be settled." Huang Huizi lay on the straw heap, with two of his men diligently helping him massage his legs.
"Thank you, Brother Huang, for showing me the way. If there's anything I can do for you, please let me know."
"No need for now, let's talk about it later. I see that you have a full and round face, which is a sign of good fortune, you won't die so easily. In the future, I'll have use for you, just don't forget today when the time comes." Huang Huizi smiled with narrowed eyes.
Chui Town, the head of Red Mountain Town, was a rough man who loved playing Go. Although he wasn't very good at it, his enthusiasm inspired all the officials in Red Mountain Town to start thinking about playing Go. Zhang Kuiguan, Chui Town's cheap and close uncle, wouldn't miss this opportunity to curry favor with him. As an official, Zhang Kuiguan was a scholar who had learned to play Go before. After studying it specifically, his chess skills greatly improved, and he became one of the top players in Red Mountain Town. However, Zhang Kuiguan was clever and knew that when playing against his superiors, he absolutely couldn't win. Not only could he not win, but he also had to use his skills to let his superiors struggle before finally winning. Thanks to this tactic, Zhang Kuiguan became very popular in Red Mountain Town.
Zhang Pangzi was alone in the room, composing music. As soon as he thought of Ma You having sixty mu of land, his mind became active and a smile spread across his face. The voice of Wang Liang came from outside the door, and without lifting his head, he said: "Come in!"
The door opened and Wang Liang came in with a bow. Zhang Baozi pressed down a white button, indicating for Wang Liang to come forward.
"What's up, how did the Li family express themselves?"
Wang Liang pretended to be slightly uneasy and said, "Your Honor, the several foolish women of the Li family were initially unwilling to give up their ancestral property. After a round of persuasion from me, they finally agreed. The Li family is now willing to offer 50 mu of land and 10 mu of mulberry fields to Your Honor."
Zhang Hong's eyes narrowed, the corners of his mouth curled up, and he smiled, showing a full set of white teeth: "Good, this matter is handled well. Originally, I thought it would take some effort to get things done, but I didn't expect you to finish so quickly. I won't treat you unfairly, I'll reward you with five mu of mulberry fields. You can also go and handle the land transfer together. By the way, go to Wang Tui's place again and retrieve Li Xuan's documents. And let Li Xuan off as well."
"The little one will go and handle it right away, just..."
"What's that?"
"Your Honor, Li Cui has been studying since he was a child and had received recommendations from the prefecture and county to obtain the qualification for imperial examination. However, after his older brother passed away, he didn't participate in the end. This man is well-versed in literature and martial arts, not a simple character. Now if we let him go easily, I'm afraid he will harbor resentment towards Your Honor. What if he participates in the imperial examination in the future and becomes an official? I'm afraid he will be unfavorable to Your Honor. If he speaks recklessly everywhere, it will inevitably affect your reputation, Your Honor." Wang Liang's heart skipped a beat when he heard Zhang Hong wanting to let Li Cui go so easily.
Zhang Pangzi is an official, and Li Jing can't do anything to him. However, he's just a servant, and after Li Jing left, he saw that all the ancestral property was gone, and at that time, he didn't even want to blame it on him. To this day, he still can't forget the last glance Li Jing gave him, and whenever he thinks about it, his heart becomes anxious.
Liang Zi had already made up his mind and would never let Li Jing off so easily.
This time he secretly calculated the Li family, and Zhang Kuquan took 60 mu of land, but he took 100 mu of land including his own 20 mu under the banner of Zhang Kuquan. Except for his own home, after giving Zhang Kuquan 60 mu of land, the 20 mu of Wang Tiejiang's home would become his land. The land that was brought back with such great risk, how could he possibly give it back again.
Zhang Hong pinched a black seed for a long time, unable to drop it, and sighed: "But I only sought wealth, not wanting to harm innocent lives and damage my karma. This matter cannot be taken to an extreme."
Seeing Zhang Pangzi hesitating, Wang Liang let out a sigh of relief and quickly added: "It's not necessary to take his life, we can sentence him to exile. The imperial court has four major places for exile: Fangzhou in Shannan East Road, Qiongzhou in Hainan, Fengzhou in Guannei Road, and Lizhou in Longyou East Road. Your Honor can choose one of these places to exile Li Cong, this kid will never be able to return for the rest of his life, and naturally he won't be able to affect you, sir."
"This is a way."
"Your Honor, the Li family only has this one man left. If we exile Li Jing, the Li family will be left with just a few widows and unmarried girls, then there's no need to worry about anything anymore. This is a once-and-for-all solution."
"All right, you go and fetch two jars of good wine to Wang Pu's residence, tell him the whole story, and ask him to get Li Yu a reduced sentence of exile to three thousand miles away, to Yi Zhou would be fine. That place is Zhang's territory, where the sky is high and the emperor is far away, and it's also close to Huihe and Tubo, Li Yu will never come back once he goes there."
"Yes, I'll go and take care of it right away."
Wang Liang went to Wang Pushan's place and revised the verdict, feeling much more at ease. The next day, he returned to Wang Lijiazhuang early in the morning and first found Village Chief Li to serve as a guarantor for the transfer of property rights. He then transferred sixty mu of land belonging to the Li family, as well as twenty mu each from the Wang Tiejiang and Wang Liang families, completing all the formalities.
Han saw Wang Liang really gave his twenty acres of land to save the Li family, and he was also grateful to Wang Liang's family.
Just as the Korean family was about to prepare to go to town to welcome back Li Jing, unexpectedly, Ma Matchmaker, who had not visited for a long time, came to the door first. As soon as Ma Matchmaker entered the house, she directly stated her purpose. She came today to help the Wang and Li families tie the red line of good marriage.
"You said you were here to act as a matchmaker for Wang Liang and propose to our Fourth Miss?" Madam Han asked in surprise.
"This is indeed a good thing, a joyous occasion. Today, I'm not just here to matchmake for the second son of the Wang family and the fourth daughter of the Li family, but also to bring good fortune to the third daughter of the Wang family and your third son. I've heard that when your third son got into trouble, the Wang family didn't hesitate to give you twenty acres of land. Look, your two families have been connected for generations, and now with these two marriages, isn't it a perfect match? Coincidentally, your third son is also returning, this wedding will surely bring good luck and ward off bad fortune." The matchmaker's words were like a blooming flower, but they left the Korean family stunned.
No one expected the Wang family to bring up old matters at this critical juncture. They not only mentioned the marriage between Wang Liang and Wen Jing, but also brought up the marriage between San Lang and the young lady of the Wang family. For a moment, Mrs. Han was stunned, reasonably speaking, the Wang family's handling of this matter seemed somewhat coercive. But from another perspective, the Wang family had just helped the Li family by taking out 20 mu of their own land to help them in an emergency, so how could the Li family refuse their proposal now?
The elder sister-in-law hastily said: "How can this aunt from the Wang family handle things like this?"
At this time, Yuanying took the initiative to say: "A Niang, Da Sao, Ma Jia Shu Zi, you go back to Wang's house and tell them that I agree with this marriage between me and Wang's family."
"Ah, Auntie Ma, marriages are all arranged by parents and matchmakers. The Wang family doesn't despise our Li family for being down on our luck now, but still remembers the old friendship to propose marriage. Now that Fourth Sister has agreed herself, I naturally don't have any problems with it either. As for my Second Son's engagement to the young lady of the Wang family, I've also agreed to it. You go and inform the Wang family."
The matchmaker was surprised that things had gone so smoothly and couldn't help but feel a little unexpected, and she ran all the way to the Wang family with a smile on her face to report the good news.
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